Dont delude yourself that the media and marketing are the big factor in a sport's popularity. It's history and culture. Which is why a sport can be massively succesful in one country and irrelevant in another. Just enjoy our great game, bang the drum and dream of bigger things by all means, but at some point you have to accept that the vast majority of people dont choose their sports based on entertainment value. There are many sports active in the UK that can only dream of being as popular as RL. The obsession with RU gets us nowhere, we're a separate and popular sport, enjoy it.

absolutely spot. This should be stickied at the top of the forum!

PROUD TO BE A MEMBER OF http://www.rugbyleaguecares.org/ and http://www.walesrugb...-wales-for-2013Predictions for the future -Crusaders RL to get a franchise for 2012 onwards -WRONGWidnes Vikings also to get a franchise - RIGHTCrusaders RL to do the double over Widnes and finish five places ahead of them -WRONGWidnes Vikings NOT to dominate rugby league in years to come! STILL TO COME

Dont delude yourself that the media and marketing are the big factor in a sport's popularity. It's history and culture. Which is why a sport can be massively succesful in one country and irrelevant in another. Just enjoy our great game, bang the drum and dream of bigger things by all means, but at some point you have to accept that the vast majority of people dont choose their sports based on entertainment value. There are many sports active in the UK that can only dream of being as popular as RL. The obsession with RU gets us nowhere, we're a separate and popular sport, enjoy it.

Couldn't agree more. I don't understand why RL people get so worked up over how good or bad RU is. What does it matter? I think Football is one of the most boring, cynical and overrated games going, but I know that in this country at least, I'm very much in the minority, and constantly trying to compare our game with football would be a waste of time.

Forget Danny K-waste of time and he will just pass you on to Jovan Vujesevic (sp?). Ian you can get hold of Jovan at the Serbian RL as he is the Development Officer for the Balkan Region and a top lad. I know he has got a team or two in Bosnia. And think was looking around Kosovo area to do something

Thanks for that info, my god there are some good players here, real talent with no where to go; a few of them might come to the UK with me for the World Cup and I would like to give them some game time over there if possible.I would also be interested in a team coming to Montenegro too sometime this year?

I've just read a tweet from Bobbie Goulding saying how we won't fill the millennium and we can't compete with RU Internationally. A) has he only just noticed and B ) so what?

We may not fill it but the ambiance seems to be, e.g. they just opened up more areas to ticket sales, that there will be a fair to decent crowd there. It dosn't do to get overconfident but I have a sneaking feeling the attendances at the world cup will be decent and a surpise to many doommongers.

We may not fill it but the ambiance seems to be, e.g. they just opened up more areas to ticket sales, that there will be a fair to decent crowd there. It dosn't do to get overconfident but I have a sneaking feeling the attendances at the world cup will be decent and a surpise to many doommongers.

This is it, we are unlikely to fill it and were unlikely to do so for most of RL's history. So how come its a disaster all of a sudden? All we need is a healthy gate (40k+ would be no mean feat) and the rest will take care of itself.We aren't as big as RU, so what, lets worry about what we do have and not what we don't.

This is it, we are unlikely to fill it and were unlikely to do so for most of RL's history. So how come its a disaster all of a sudden? All we need is a healthy gate (40k+ would be no mean feat) and the rest will take care of itself.We aren't as big as RU, so what, lets worry about what we do have and not what we don't.

I agree and I would add that, if England make the final, I think Old Trafford will sell out.

A stadium or Stadiums dont need to be full to be a success. Main thing is to make a profit and promote the sport to a new or different audience which usually Internationals do. There are more important problems the game needs to sort out instead of worrying about selling a stadium out full.

Our collective negativity is a huge issue. An example was the reference to Danny K earlier and an immediate suggestion that he was a 'waste of time'; not that it might be a good idea to contact .... as well or an acknowledgement of good work done by volunteers. Nothing in RL can thrive in the face of such all-encompassing negativity, people working as volunteers or on low salaries are not encouraged to do better by this.

We have a fantastic sport, but we need to drown out the negativity with creativity and positive action. Good press is about creating a buzz for an event, not about being able to justify being positive at a later date.

Rugby League is a sport that desperately needs to expand its geographical supporter base and its player base. This imperative means that all other requirements are secondary until this is done.

All power in the game should be with governing bodies, especially international governing bodies.

Without these actions we will remain a minor sport internationally and nationally.

Try reading a post NEC before spouting of. I gave a contact and what his job description is and where he can be contacted. Ever worked with Danny K at all NEC? I have and speak from experience.

Yes I have, in the early days of an old website he was very helpful. Didn't object to you suggesting another contact, just to the negative way you dismissed somebody working for RL, even if you feel that they don't do the best job.

Rugby League is a sport that desperately needs to expand its geographical supporter base and its player base. This imperative means that all other requirements are secondary until this is done.

All power in the game should be with governing bodies, especially international governing bodies.

Without these actions we will remain a minor sport internationally and nationally.

Our collective negativity is a huge issue. An example was the reference to Danny K earlier and an immediate suggestion that he was a 'waste of time'; not that it might be a good idea to contact .... as well or an acknowledgement of good work done by volunteers. Nothing in RL can thrive in the face of such all-encompassing negativity, people working as volunteers or on low salaries are not encouraged to do better by this.

We have a fantastic sport, but we need to drown out the negativity with creativity and positive action. Good press is about creating a buzz for an event, not about being able to justify being positive at a later date.

This illustrates something though. The 6N can be as poor as anything but RU fans won't suddenly abandon the game or its the end of the world. Whereas RL fans (and journos) will loudly declare how bad things are. If questioned about it they will simply say they are 'telling it like it is' and tell you that its not their job to be a RL cheerleader.

Is the difference between the two sets of supporters simply down to the rugby league wanting the occasion on the pitch and union the occasion off the pitch.

Carlsberg don't do Soldiers, but if they did, they would probably be Brits.

Is the difference between the two sets of supporters simply down to the rugby league wanting the occasion on the pitch and union the occasion off the pitch.

Partly true, I think we are more used to demanding value for money as the established professional sport but I think we are also less 'accepting' of propaganda. Whereas many if not almost all union fans seem to be content to swallow the myth and discuss the drama without necessarily commenting on the quality, we cannot wait to go for the jugular. Maybe the dog eat dog nature of our club game is at fault, encouraging a culture of blame and short-termism.

We need a propagandist at ever club, developing news stories to drown out the negative with positive spin and we need an acquiescent RL media to print and develop these stories rather than go all out to try and de-cry them and find ways to discredit them. People that meet Sam Tomkins or Paul Sculthorpe are generally impressed by them and their personalities, yet their profile is tiny compared to players that left to play union. Develop our stars as the Heroes of England, ready to carry us forward to World Cup glory. Okay, it may come to nought, but by the time we know it has failed we would have had a successful competition with full stadia and a massively increased presence in the media. Lose our cynicism or lose the opportunity, by all means criticise Sinfield/Tomkins/Roby when you play their teams, but sing up their quality whenever you can to workmates and on social media. Our cynical media report our cynicism and reflect it, if we decide to emphasise the strengths of the game we can start to change the game's image.

Like it or not, Twitter is now a news source and if we don't stop the stream of idiot ex-players from constantly talking the game down then any positive moves may be lost.

Rugby League is a sport that desperately needs to expand its geographical supporter base and its player base. This imperative means that all other requirements are secondary until this is done.

All power in the game should be with governing bodies, especially international governing bodies.

Without these actions we will remain a minor sport internationally and nationally.

Partly true, I think we are more used to demanding value for money as the established professional sport but I think we are also less 'accepting' of propaganda. Whereas many if not almost all union fans seem to be content to swallow the myth and discuss the drama without necessarily commenting on the quality, we cannot wait to go for the jugular. Maybe the dog eat dog nature of our club game is at fault, encouraging a culture of blame and short-termism.

We need a propagandist at ever club, developing news stories to drown out the negative with positive spin and we need an acquiescent RL media to print and develop these stories rather than go all out to try and de-cry them and find ways to discredit them. People that meet Sam Tomkins or Paul Sculthorpe are generally impressed by them and their personalities, yet their profile is tiny compared to players that left to play union. Develop our stars as the Heroes of England, ready to carry us forward to World Cup glory. Okay, it may come to nought, but by the time we know it has failed we would have had a successful competition with full stadia and a massively increased presence in the media. Lose our cynicism or lose the opportunity, by all means criticise Sinfield/Tomkins/Roby when you play their teams, but sing up their quality whenever you can to workmates and on social media. Our cynical media report our cynicism and reflect it, if we decide to emphasise the strengths of the game we can start to change the game's image.

Like it or not, Twitter is now a news source and if we don't stop the stream of idiot ex-players from constantly talking the game down then any positive moves may be lost.

Great post , we are straight talking people but this leads to far too much negativity ; as mentioned earlier I like the positivity of wells and Clarke far more than the negative tired approach of Eddie and Stevo.We need root and branch change to the overall strategy of our governing body and our own attitutudes ; the demise of the international game has polarised our views to our club sides and has split a once tight RL community.